A meeting was recently held between Amr Talaat, the minister of communications and information technology (ICT), and a team from Oxford Business Group (OBG), a global research and consultancy company. During the meeting, Talaat talked about the importance of artificial intelligence (AI), as it would be a key focus of the national ICT strategy.
Talaat informed the team, “AI is a key discipline, and will continue to be one of the most important areas of the ICT in the coming decade,” adding, “For this reason, we have set out a strategy which focuses on building skills and developing talent. At the same time, we are working on attracting companies specialising in AI.”
Moreover, the ministry is planning to collaborate with the country’s educational institutions in order to ensure that students are equipped with the ICT skills they need, ahead of Egypt’s digital transformation. The partnership between the two ministries is expected to lead to the opening of an academy which specialises in this field.
Talaat further stated that the time was ripe for Egypt to move in the direction of AI’s application, since the country now has the necessary data and digital resources to implement effective solutions and take advantage of what AI has to offer, highlighting the importance of ensuring that Egypt’s next generation has a broad base of ICT knowledge and skills. He stated, “This needs to be the cornerstone of our strategy in order to attract investment and boost the ICT services and exports.”
The OBG will publish an upcoming publication titled ‘Egypt 2019’ on the country’s economic development and investment opportunities, and will feature an interview with the minister in the ICT chapter of the report.
The chapter will thoroughly review the government’s plans to boost the ICT’s contribution to the GDP from 3% in 2018, to 5% during the next year through its digital transformation strategy, and by investing in high-tech infrastructure. It will also reflect on the progress which Egypt has made in its bid to mark itself as a regional tech start-up hub.
